I lightly oil my nonstick cookie sheet with extra light olive oil. Make your homemade pizza crust dough OR open canned dough and lay out on to cookie sheet, slightly stretching and shaping into a rectangle. lightly coat top of dough with extra light olive oil. Pre-bake as instructed (*Pre-baking your crust gives it a crunchier, crisp crust so that any wet toppings don't break through the crust or create a soggy crust...) Heat tomato sauce and slice toppings (thinly.) Remove pre-baked crust and add sauce and all your toppings (I always add cheese at the end by preference) Finish baking pizza in oven according to dough/package directions. I end with broiling the pizza on low for 2-3 minutes. Make sure not to add too much sauce and do not overload the toppings which will leave you with a crispier crust too...

1) If you're using active dry yeast, dissolve it, with a pinch of sugar, in 2 tablespoons of the lukewarm water. Let the yeast and water sit at room temperature for 15 minutes, until the mixture has bubbled and expanded. If you're using instant yeast, you can skip this step.

2) Combine the yeast with the remainder of the ingredients. Mix and knead everything together—by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle—till you've made a soft, smooth dough. If you're kneading in a stand mixer, it should take 4 to 5 minutes at second speed, and the dough should barely clean the sides of the bowl, perhaps sticking a bit at the bottom. Don't over-knead the dough; it should hold together, but can still look fairly rough on the surface.

3) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow it to rise till it's very puffy. This will take about an hour using instant yeast, or 90 minutes using active dry. If it takes longer, that's OK.We are making: One 1 1/2"-thick 9" x 13" rectangular pizza;

4) If you're making a rectangular pizza, shape the dough into a rough oval, don't pat it flat; just stretch it briefly into shape. Allow the dough to rest, covered with an overturned bowl or lightly greased plastic wrap, for 15 minutes.

5) Place the dough in the prepared pan(s). Press it over the bottom of the pan, stretching it towards the edges. You'll probably get about two-thirds of the way there before the dough starts shrinking back; walk away for 15 minutes. Cover the dough while you're away, so it doesn't dry out.

6) When you come back, you should be able to pat the dough closer to the corners of the pan. Repeat the rest and dough-stretch one more time, if necessary; your goal is to get the dough to fill the pan as fully as possible.

7) Allow the dough to rise, covered, till it's noticeably puffy, about 90 minutes. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 450°F.

8) Bake the pizza on the lower oven rack till it looks and feels set on top, and is just beginning to brown around the edge of the crust, but is still pale on top. This will take about t 10 to 12 minutes.

9) To serve pizza immediately: Remove it from the oven, and arrange your toppings of choice on top. Return to the oven, and bake on the upper oven rack for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until the crust is nicely browned, both top and bottom, and the cheese is melted. Check it midway through, and move it to the bottom rack if the top is browning too much, or the bottom not enough.

10) Remove the pizza from the oven, and transfer it from the pan to a rack to cool slightly before serving. For easiest serving, cut with a pair of scissors or pizza cutter